The cruisers' group arranged a Thanksgiving dinner at the nearby harbor. The dinner was excellent; the turkey and gravy had some kind of herbs that were really delicious. There were 180 sailors in attendance. We shared a table with Don & Terri of the catamaran DOUBLE PLAY.

We left the boys at the boat and had lunch at Tony's, a great beachfront restaurant. We had a big platter of jumbo shrimp and dorado fillets, served with garlic butter. The owner served us with free tequila shooters... a tall shot glass filled 3/4 with tequila, and 1/4 7-Up, then he puts a napkin over the top and slams it on the table to mix. The funny thing is, he uses the same shot glass (without washing it) for everyone in the little restaurant. Hey it's Mexico...Tequila!!!

The shrimp look yummy! ~~ Will you have a traditional U.S. Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow or will you do it up "Baja style"? ~~ Take care and if you get a chance.. send some of that warm weather my way!! ~~haha ;o)

11/26/2008 | Bruce

Our plans are to join a cruiser's Thanksgiving buffet here in Mazatlan. I'm no fan of buffets, but there will be a band and music and dancing til midnight, which will be great fun. Oh, the price is 170 pesos, or $12, such a deal!!

At Bob & Roberta Soleway's House

11/21/2008, Mazatlan

We visited Bob & Roberta Soleway's gorgeous new house. The last time we saw it, two years ago, there was just the foundation. The construction was a painful lesson in Latin American business practices. The results sure look great, though.

We visited Mazatlan's superb "mercado", or open air market. There's an upstairs section with restaurants that cater to market workers and the locals, and you can get an excellent lunch there, e.g. shrimp or beef with tortillas, salad, rice and beans, for just 35 pesos (less than $3).

Then we bought a kilo of giant shrimp, 70 pesos for a kilo (about $3 a pound), from this seafood vendor. They even peel the shrimp for you.

Shrimp is Mazatlan's specialty, and it calls itself "the shrimp capital of the world".

We got back to the boat and served the shrimp in garlic butter with pasta and alfredo sauce. Yum!

i guess i did not submit my first one last week. i hope all is going well for you guys, the pictures are great!!! we hope you continue to have a safe trip.... the wx up here is raining {shich we need desparately}.... bon voyage to you all.... look forward to the next installment...
larry

11/26/2008 | Bruce

Hey Larry, nice to hear from you. Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving to you and Karen.

cheers
Bruce

Great Engine News

11/13/2008

I had the local Yanmar diesel mechanic to the boat today, to look at why the engine was losing oil. Great news, the problem is relatively minor. The crankcase oil is cooled by seawater, and it is common for a leak to develop in the oil cooler. Since the oil pressure is greater than the seawater, oil leaks out into the seawater cooling circuit and goes out the seawater exhaust.

I was concerned that the oil consumption was via another route, past the piston rings, but thankfully that is not the case.

The mechanic also noted that the valves needed to be adjusted and the turbocharger needed to be rebuilt. Since we're in Mexico, all of this work is relatively cheap.

It feels great to know that the engine will be solid and reliable going forward.

One thing I learned, is that Yanmar engines like to run at a high RPM, around 3000 or even higher. It turns out, that our boat reaches hull speed at 2700 RPM, which indicates the prop has too much pitch. When running at a lower RPM like 2000, the engine builds carbon deposits that will shorten the engine life.

I had read too - that Yanmars like to run at high rpms. I asked my mechanic - he said no - no engine likes to run at high rpms - it just wears out sooner - one more opinion

11/21/2008 | Bill

I am a deck guy and not an engineer, but every ship I have sailed on we have ran the main diesel engines at their maximum RPM's periodically to "blow out the carbon". Too bad to hear about the prop...are you getting any vibrations form that?

Cheers,
Bill

11/22/2008 | Bruce Powell

The prop works fine, the only problem with excessive pitch is that we have to run the motor at lower than the ideal RPM.